Abstract
This article analyzes divisions within Belarusian protest communities by
focusing on a particular group: the professional protesters. In Belarus, this group occupies a crucial position in between the international structures of democracy promotion and the internal attempts of political mobilization against the politics of President Aliaksandr Lukashenka. Performativity as an analytical perspective is employed to define positionality of professional protesters in relation to other political subjects and within the system of democracy promotion. The article shows implications of neoliberal rationality for social and political changes for protest communities in Belarus. It argues that the financial assistance obtained by protest professionals, as well as nondemocratic leader ship style of the oppositional leaders, fills the Belarusian protest field with suspicions and accusations, add to a hierarchical and exclusionary way of participation in decision-making, and alienate activists from protest politics.
focusing on a particular group: the professional protesters. In Belarus, this group occupies a crucial position in between the international structures of democracy promotion and the internal attempts of political mobilization against the politics of President Aliaksandr Lukashenka. Performativity as an analytical perspective is employed to define positionality of professional protesters in relation to other political subjects and within the system of democracy promotion. The article shows implications of neoliberal rationality for social and political changes for protest communities in Belarus. It argues that the financial assistance obtained by protest professionals, as well as nondemocratic leader ship style of the oppositional leaders, fills the Belarusian protest field with suspicions and accusations, add to a hierarchical and exclusionary way of participation in decision-making, and alienate activists from protest politics.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 218-235 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Conflict and Society |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2020 Jun |
Subject classification (UKÄ)
- Political Science (excluding Peace and Conflict Studies)
Free keywords
- Belarus, democracy promotion, performativity, political protests, protesters, protest community, subjectivity
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Emotionality of Dissent and Continuity of the (Un)Changed in Belarus: Ethnography of Political Protests in Minsk, 2015-2017
Minchenia, A. (Researcher)
Project: Dissertation